DragonFeather
by Senyu
Summary: Night Walker has been defeated, the bat ponies have found a new home, and Twilight and Ruby Sparkle are settling into their new positions as rulers. But soon the next Shepherd arrives, and has a chance encounter Rainbow Dash and four other ponies' lives as he musters his forces to the far east. With her life forever changed, Rainbow Dash prepares herself for her new fate.
1. Prologue

_Author Notes: This story is a sequel to 'Second Princess of the Night'._

* * *

The roar of the wind filled her ears, drowning out the sounds of the land far below her. She reveled in her absolute freedom, bound by nothing more than the gentle caress of the air flowing over her body and the soft warmth of the sun, her rainbow mane and tail shining in the sunlight. Her mane tickled her wings, drawing her attention there, where she could feel every individual feather with each stroke.

She sighed in happiness, and then looked downward. The land shone with a golden color, the sure sign that the running of the leaves would soon arrive. But for now, everything looked like it was simply enjoying a relaxing afternoon in the sun. The grass slowly swayed back and forth from the breeze, giving the illusion of waves rippling across water. The few ponies she saw idly walked along, enjoying the peaceful scenery around them, while others looked to be taking naps in their favorite spots, something that she was tempted to do herself. But she continued on, lazily flying above the treetops as she took in this wonderful day.

Inhaling deeply, she closed her eyes and focused on her body, noting each and every sensation she could feel. The way the wind lovingly supported her, the comforting heat of the sun, and the open space around her. No matter how many times she flew, she never grew tired of how it felt, the feeling of pure freedom. There was no place she enjoyed more than the open sky, and while she once again contemplated finding a nice comfy cloud to take a nap on, she decided otherwise.

There was only one thing she enjoyed more than the feeling of drifting in the air, and so, she exhaled, and she snapped her eyes open.

With a powerful flap of her wings, she soared directly upwards, causing her to appear as a blur as the ground quickly fell away. Her heart beat faster with each pump of her wings, and she rocketed herself through the first cloud line as she continued her ascent. Soon, she passed Ponyville's air boundaries, and it was only when she cleared the very last cloud that she stopped her flapping and tucked her wings.

As her momentum slowed, she looked across the land, grinning ear to ear at being able to see for miles in every direction. To the east, she saw the white puffs of a train, to the south stretched the Everfree Forest, and to the north was the awe inspiring view of Canterlot atop the mountain that was still some distance above her position.

When at last her body came to a stand still, she closed her eyes and savored the sensation of weightlessness. Up here, in these brief moments at the peak of her flight, everything was quiet as if the sky was meant only for her. All she could hear was her heart beating and her feathers ruffling from the breeze.

Then, before gravity could bring her back down, she twisted her body so that she was facing forward and unfolded her wings. Opening her eyes, she simultaneously kicked out with her hooves and flapped her wings, propelling herself forward.

Her wings worked furiously as she soared across the sky, flying faster and faster as the ground became a golden blur. The wind was now a thundering roar, her coat was flattened as the air ripped across her body, and her feathers shook from the intensity of the flight. Her mane whipped wildly, and she squinted her eyes as she continued to pick up speed. Her heart raced as adrenaline filled her body, accompanying the sheer joy she felt. And with a grunt of effort, she pumped her wings harder, and she flew faster still.

Ahead of her was a massive cloud that had drifted from the Everfree, one that would take a whole team of pegasi to clear in any reasonable amount of time. But she continued pushing herself forward, and she burst through the cloud with such force that she left a massive gaping hole the size of a house. She grinned as she quickly left the cloud behind, and turned her focus on to the far horizon. The open sky was completely hers, the world below was but a passing blur, and everypony could see her rainbow form streaking across the sky. Up here, all of Equestria was within her reach. There was no place she could not see or go.

This was her life, and Rainbow Dash loved every moment of it.

* * *

Stretching her legs, Rainbow Dash let out a relieved sigh. The tension in her muscles had finally cleared after her afternoon flight, and now she patted her stomach in anticipation. "Time for a snack," she said to herself, and she lazily flew into Ponyville, floating just above street level.

Hovering forward without a care in the world always felt more relaxing after an intense workout, and since she cleared a few clouds on her flight back, Rainbow Dash felt perfectly justified in taking it easy the rest of the day.

Should she stop by Sugarcube Corner for some sweets to reenergize herself? Or should she get something more filling like a hay sandwich? She couldn't decide, and her grumbling stomach wasn't helping matters.

Thinking over her choices far more seriously than she ought to have, Rainbow Dash flew towards the town center, humming aloud as she passed various restaurants. Whenever the smell of food caused her to lean one way, another tantalizing scent made her lean in the opposite direction. Pies, hay-burgers, carrots, and an assortment of more delicious food caused her to zigzag as she flew. But when she sniffed the scent of fresh fruit, she came to a halt.

 _Actually, when was the last time I had some apples from AJ? I bet those Golden Delicious apples are ready for eating now._ Rainbow Dash brought a hoof to her chin. _Eat in town and then find some spot to take a nap, or head to AJ's and eat in the spot that I'm going to nap in?_

Choosing between a bustling restaurant over a quiet apple tree branch wasn't a difficult choice, but it was only then that she remembered what had happened the last time she tried the same stunt.

She vaguely remembered Applejack telling her something about how the Golden Delicious apples were the farm's main seller after cider season, but she hadn't paid too close attention on account of her trying to stay out of Applejack's reach while high-tailing it from the farm.

Rainbow Dash hummed to herself as she weighed the risks, but shortly shrugged her shoulders as she smirked to herself. _I'm sure she'll let me have some if I ask this time. No worries._

She began to move in Sweet Apple Acre's direction, already imagining how she'd go about asking Applejack to cut her a special deal, but paused as she took notice of a familiar pony sitting beneath the shade of the library tree.

 _Huh, didn't realize I floated this far into town. I should probably say hi first._ Putting her grumbling stomach on hold, Rainbow Dash flew towards the library.

Even though the shade of the tree was cover enough, the pony also lay underneath a large umbrella, causing her darkened position to stand out on such a sunny day. With her sun hat set aside, and a book floating in front of her, Twilight Sparkle appeared to be completely engrossed in her relaxation. But despite her focus, her ears flicked at the sound of Rainbow Dash's approach, and she lifted her head and smiled in Rainbow's direction.

Rainbow Dash merely smirked. _I just can't sneak up on her anymore. I really need to get with Pinkie on figuring out what to do about that._

Landing just a short distance, Rainbow Dash trotted up to the library. "Hey, Twilight."

"Hello, Rainbow Dash," Twilight replied. "What are you up to?"

"Nothing much. Had a little practice flying, and was thinking about taking a nap after I get some food." Walking to her side, Rainbow Dash tilted her head as she tried to see which book Twilight was reading, but grimaced when she recognized the blank cover of the book. "How's uh… How's your reading going?"

Twilight's tail flicked in excitement. "Pretty interesting actually. I was just going over a few shadow spells." Her horn flickered as she flipped a few pages back. "There're a few spells that I'm still trying to wrap my head around. Did you know that for most of the magic regarding shadows they treat them as both corporeal and incorporeal? It's all about knowing just the right time to solidify them, and even then, you may not have gathered enough from your surroundings." She leaned forward as she quickly scanned a passage. "I still don't understand how some of these even work at a fundamental level, and the ones I do understand looked to be done so inefficiently that you'd need a large reservoir of magic to cast even the simplest ones. Despite the large amount of knowledge here, the ponies back then really skipped on the basics of magic. It looks like they just winged it half the time."

"Oh, that's cool, I guess," Rainbow Dash replied. "You uh… Read much on the other part?"

Twilight's smile fell, and the note of enthusiasm dropped from her voice. "Yeah, I have. I'm still in the beginning, though. I haven't really made much time to go through it all yet."

"Oh," Rainbow Dash said. After a moment of silence passed, she coughed into her hoof. "How're the bat ponies? I haven't seen Willow Shade and Cloud Shadow in awhile."

Twilight's smile came back, and she set the book down. "They're good. The restoration on the castle has been going pretty smoothly. In fact, by next spring I'd say we'd even be able to bring some of the bat ponies who want to move from Dusktown."

"Cool. That's cool," Rainbow Dash replied. "I bet some of them can't wait to try some real flying. I'll have to show them how to fly through Ghastly Gorge when they feel ready for it."

"I'm sure some of them would love it."

Ever since Twilight had become a vampony, fought and came to terms with a split personality that still resided in her head, and defeated possibly the strongest vampony in all of existence, she had become much more comfortable with dangerous things like flying through Ghastly Gorge, and Rainbow Dash was immensely glad for that.

"Hey," Rainbow Dash said in excitement. "Maybe tomorrow night you and me could take a fly through. You've been getting a lot better at it."

"Maybe another time," Twilight said. "Don't get me wrong, I'd love to, but I was planning on studying the Tree of Harmony tomorrow. Now that we've cleared the last of Discord's vines, I can finally study it without any obstacles."

"Right," Rainbow Dash replied. "Any luck on that mess?"

Twilight shook her head. "As far as I can guess, the tree's being recharged by the Elements of Harmony. There's simply no telling when it will release them again. Until then, Equestria will have to face its problems without them."

"You mean _we'll_ have to face Equestria's problems without them," Rainbow Dash corrected. "After all, we _are_ Equestria's biggest heroes."

Twilight smirked. "How could I forget when you keep reminding us."

"How can I not? Discord, Sombra, Night Walker... Okay, that last one was pretty bad, but we took care of it in the end!" Rainbow Dash hopped onto her hind legs and threw a few jabs. "There ain't nothing we can't take down."

Twilight rolled her eyes, but kept her smile. "Well, with the Princesses' efforts, we'll hopefully not have to face everything by ourselves. The guard is being expanded and their training curriculum is getting extensive updates."

Rainbow Dash fell back onto her four hooves. "Getting ready for the other two?"

Twilight nodded. "I'm meeting up with Celestia and Luna later this week to discuss the details. Now that Ruby has finished healing us after our encounter with Night Walker, and the bat ponies are doing well in their new home, it's time that I joined in preparations. I'll most likely be in command of the vampony segment that we're working to form."

"How many are you up to now?"

"As of last week, eighty."

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. "I'd figure you'd have done more than that."

"I'm still studying the effects of the new vampirism," Twilight replied. "So far most of the issues with the bat ponies clear up after becoming vamponies, but not all of them become fully healed. The new vampirism is definitely for the better, but I'm taking it slow. I don't feel comfortable just hoofing it out until Ruby and I fully understand it."

"Right, I get ya," Rainbow Dash said.

She totally didn't get it. Why wait when you could just fix ponies there and then? But she trusted Twilight's decision, and instead turned her mind to more important matters.

"We'll, I'm gonna leave ya to your reading. I gotta talk to AJ about some Golden Delicious apples." Rainbow Dash turned away as she prepared herself for flight.

"Applejack?" Twilight asked. "Oh, she's at the castle."

Rainbow Dash tucked her wings and looked over her shoulder. "What? Why?"

"She's bringing the bat ponies a wagon of apples. I asked her to since they didn't get the chance to come to town to buy some. The road between the castle and Ponyville is still being built, so the young and elderly can't go shopping just yet."

With her magic, Twilight lifted the book and looked for where she left off. "She'll probably be back later this evening, so that'd be the best time to catch her. The apples and cider disappear pretty fast whenever the bat ponies are involved, so I can't imagine she'll be gone for too long."

" _Cider_?" Rainbow Dash replied with wide eyes. Immediately, her face was pressed against Twilight's. "What cider?"

Twilight leaned away with a shocked expression. "The leftover cider I asked her to keep. You know, because the bat ponies weren't able to make it to town when she was selling-"

Rainbow Dash didn't have time to hear another word. At once she leapt off the ground and tore through the sky towards the Everfree Forest, knocking over Twilight's umbrella in the process. Golden Delicious Apples and an afternoon nap could wait. There was cider to be had, and given the ravenous nature of the bat ponies towards Applejack's wares, every second meant life or death.

Dealing with an angry vampony later on for leaving in such a hasty manner was completely, one-hundred percent worth it if it meant that Rainbow Dash would be able to get her hooves on just one bottle of cider.

Yet, as Rainbow Dash raced towards the Castle of the Two Sisters, she was unaware that another pegasus was heading in the same direction from the west. Though he was still far, far away, he soared through the sky with powerful wings, outpacing the guards in their efforts to warn the rest of Equestria.


	2. Chapter 1

After several long minutes of expedient flight over the Everfree Forest, the stifling canopy finally gave way to the misty silhouette of the Castle of the Two Sisters. Rainbow Dash smiled at the sight of the ancient structure, already tasting the cider on her tongue. She put on a burst of speed from anticipation.

As she approached, she began to make out details from within the mist. The nearly completed stone bridge crossing the ravine, the scaffolding that adorned the castle like ivy, and a large clearing filled with tree stumps where the castle grounds were to be expanded. Although the slog of construction was everywhere, it was done carefully to preserve the environment as much as possible. Old statues were tended by tender hooves, forgotten flower beds prepared for new planting, and despite the numerous felled trees, many had been left in place for aesthetics.

The castle was becoming a blend of old and new, something that anypony could admire even while it was in the midst of construction. Rainbow Dash, however, paid the spectacle no mind, and was instead scanning the grounds for a familiar apple cart, fearing that the only way she'd be able to spot it would be due to line a mile long.

In moments she was able to make out the forms of ponies; a mixture of pegasi, unicorns, earth ponies, as well as the castle's new occupants—the bat ponies.

The main three races made up the bulk of the restoration crew, each of them experts in their own field who had been requested by the princesses to labor over what some were already calling the project of the century. Despite its remote and dangerous location, each pony had eagerly agreed to work on restoring such a wonder. They zealously performed their tasks, milling about while wearing yellow hard hats as they hammered and drilled at the old stone. They knocked over crumbling walls so they could painstakingly remake them. They built new rooms and buildings with which to bring the castle into the modern era, and they added modern cosmetic designs only when the old could not be salvaged.

For the last month, Rainbow Dash's visits to the castle had been meet with the echoes of construction, and for a moment she was tempted to investigate the recent progress of the massive project. But she cast the notion aside, and furrowed her brow as she refocused herself on a goal far more important than the castle's restoration.

The mist rolled in her wake as she crossed the ravine, causing all who noticed to turn their heads with concerned expressions. Everypony at the castle had quickly learned to recognize the signs of Rainbow Dash's arrival, and they promptly moved clear from her usual landing spots.

Rainbow Dash slammed into the ground hard, and the momentum caused her to slide across the lawn, tearing up chunks of earth beneath her hooves. To her audience's disbelief, it was the longest one she had made yet, easily extending a number of feet past similar marks from her previous landings.

"Where is it?" Rainbow Dash shouted, her voice nearly matching the noise of construction.

A nearby batpony daringly stepped forward. "Where's what?" he asked.

"What?" Rainbow Dash shouted, bringing a hoof to her ear.

The batpony gulped and raised his voice. "Where's what?"

"The cider!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. She sprinted towards him and grabbed him by the scruff. "Where's the cider?"

"Cider? Oh!" he cried in relief. "You're just looking for Miss Applejack. For a moment I thought you were back for another flying lesson. To be honest, I don't think my wings could-"

Rainbow Dash pressed her face inches away from his, and stared at him with a wild gaze. "Where. Is. The. Cider!"

"T-Third wing," the batpony mumbled.

" _What?_ "

"Third wing!" the batpony yelled, and he was immediately released as Rainbow Dash zoomed into the castle.

If she hadn't been so focused on finding the apple cart, she might have noticed the earth pony wearing a yellow hard hat waving at her to stop.

The moment Rainbow Dash flew through the large doors and into the entrance hall, she yelped as her path suddenly became blocked by a mass of wood. Within the span of a heartbeat, Rainbow Dash folded her wings and dipped below the obstacle, and then opened her wings again as she rose up on the other side. Looking back, she saw it had been a pile of lumber being carried by a team of unicorns, and she sighed in relief.

But when she turned her head forward, she yelped again at the sight of stone falling towards her.

With adrenaline fueled panic, Rainbow Dash swung her hips from left to right as she swerved through the broken chunks of castle, narrowly avoiding stones that were bigger than her whole body. Then, after clearing the debris, Rainbow Dash sighed yet again in relief, all while glancing downward at the pile of rocks that had nearly squashed her.

Her gaze then traveled to a group of ponies frantically waving their arms, and before she knew it, she crashed into a highrise of scaffolding. The wooden platforms snapped from the impact, and the metal poles rang as the structure came tumbling down.

The crash caught everypony's attention, and they lowered their tools and set aside their loads so that they could look in shock at the destroyed section of scaffolding, covering their mouths as a wave of dust exploded outward. When it had settled, the nearest ponies cautiously moved forward to investigate. Half buried in the center of the wreckage was Rainbow Dash, staring upwards with wide eyes as she breathed heavily.

"Ouch," she groaned.

With a grunt, she lifted herself up and looked at the destruction around her, and then towards the ponies staring at her. Some wore worried expressions, others had their mouths open in shock, and a few stared at her with exasperation.

" _Again?_ " one of the unicorns exclaimed. She shoved past the dumfounded spectators and whipped out a pencil from behind her ear, and she glared at Rainbow Dash as she furiously began to scribble down notes.

"Eheheh…" Rainbow Dash replied as she stood up, wiping the dust off her as she flashed the construction manager a nervous smile. "Hey, Steel Weld. Nice day for flying, huh?"

Steel Weld's glare intensified.

"Heheh... So, uh… Know where the third wing's at?

Ten hooves pointed towards a hallway that wasn't covered with warning signs, and Rainbow Dash brought a hoof behind her head as she hovered upward. "You know, I think Twilight's been pretty busy lately, so let's just pretend this never happened. You know… For Twilight's sake."

Before Steel Weld could open her mouth, Rainbow Dash was already flying down the passage as quickly as her wings could take her.

* * *

"Stupid castle, stupid work ponies, stupid directions," Rainbow Dash grumbled as she flew through halls and corridors, quickening her pace as a sense of urgency rose within her.

Whenever she came across a bat pony for directions to the third wing of the castle, she found herself running into another team of construction ponies who vehemently pointed her towards a supposed detour, only for her to become lost and repeat the cycle anew. It was when she found herself within the same room for the fifth time that Rainbow Dash stopped.

"Auuuugh!" she groaned as she pulled her cheeks downward. "Doesn't anypony know how to give directions?"

"Directions to what?" a male voice said behind her.

Rainbow Dash mumbled a series of curses beneath her breath as she turned around, but then froze at the sight a curious batpony staring up at her, and the mug he casually sipped from.

"What is that? Is that cider?" Rainbow Dash asked, and she landed in front of the bat pony. With two sniffs, Rainbow Dash's feathers quivered. "It is! Where did you get it?"

"Miss Applejack," the batpony replied while raising an eyebrow.

"Where is she?" Rainbow Dash asked desperately. She grabbed a hold of him and begged with pleading eyes. "Please, just tell me which way that doesn't lead me to a dead end or more angry worker ponies. Just tell me where the cider is! I need it!"

"Um… Is this really worth getting so worked up about?" he asked while trying to lean away.

The softness in Rainbow Dash's voice vanished as she gripped him tighter and pulled her face closer. "Where. Is. It?"

The batpony gulped, and he pointed his hoof towards the right. Rainbow Dash followed the direction, spying an open door at the other end of the room, and she saw another batpony exit the doors who was also carrying a mug.

Rainbow Dash didn't waste another moment as she darted towards the door, pausing only momentarily to glance down the hall to make sure it was void of warning signs before proceeding with haste.

Her worried expression slowly changed into joy as she passed over another pony carrying a mug, and then another, and another. But soon, her joy turned to panic as she came across more and more ponies with mugs, and she doubled her speed through the wide passageways, causing the bat ponies beneath her to shield their mugs as their bodies were tugged by the whipping wind from Rainbow Dash's passing.

Eventually, the passage turned into another large hall, one that connected to a decorative flower garden. Large columns lined the wall, allowing ponies to enter the garden between the pillars of stone. At the base of one of the columns was a sea of bat ponies, and in the middle stood Applejack's food cart. A flurry of emotions played across Rainbow Dash's face as she flew towards it.

Every bat pony was sipping merrily from their mugs, most of whom were heading towards the garden to enjoy their beverage in peace. Rainbow Dash landed a short distance away, craning her neck as she tried to squeeze her way towards the cart.

"Excuse me, outta' the way. AJ? Can you hear me? Is there any cider left? Excuse me, coming through!"

Rainbow Dash weaved through the murmuring crowd, ducking beneath raised hooves and excited wing flaps. Whenever a mug passed her vision she found herself enviously turning her head to follow it, biting her lip as it was brought to the recipients lips and downed with happy gulps. Each satisfied 'yum' and 'mmm' caused her to drool longingly, and she moved more forcefully through the crowd. Soon, she spied the cart between the blocking bodies, and with a lusting smile, she spotted the last mug of cider.

"It's mine!" Rainbow Dash called out as she pressed herself forward. "I got it! I got the last one!"

Wriggling free, Rainbow Dash leapt towards the cart, and as she did, time slowed to a crawl. Her overjoyed smile morphed into a frown as she saw a coin exchange hooves, and her fear turned to despair as she mouthed the word, ' _Nooooooooooooo_.'

Time resumed, and Rainbow Dash fell at the foot of the cart as the last mug was taken away.

"Come again," Applejack said happily as she watched the batpony leave, and then looked to the crowd. The pleased faces of the bat ponies had turned into looks of concern as they stared towards the apple cart. A groan caught Applejack's attention, and when she peered over the edge of her cart she saw Rainbow Dash's collapsed form. "Rainbow Dash? Is that you?"

With her face stuck to the floor, Rainbow Dash muttered something unintelligible.

"Ah guess you heard Ah was selling some cider, huh?"

Rainbow Dash flicked her tail in annoyance, refusing to move her prone body.

Applejack smirked, and then settled back behind the counter. "Well, you can stay on the floor as much as ya like. Guess Ah'll just have to find somepony else to drink this here last mug of cider."

Rainbow Dash lifted her head from the floor. "Last mug?" She was instantly standing and propped her front hooves on the counter, and stared at Applejack with wide eyes. "There's a last, last mug?"

"Mhmm!" Applejack replied as she bent down and began to rummage beneath the counter. "Ah figured you'd catch wind about this here selling, so Ah made sure to save ya one."

To Rainbow Dash's disbelief, Applejack set down a fresh mug of cider on the counter, and she pushed it towards Rainbow Dash.

Applejack chuckled. "You can pay me back later, since you probably had gone and left without getting your coins."

Rainbow Dash gently grabbed ahold of the mug, and brought it towards herself with an ecstatic grin. "This is so worth the scolding I'm getting later." And with that, she took a deep gulp of the delicious liquid.

Applejack raised an eyebrow. "Scolding?"

"Didn't you hear?" a nearby batpony said. "Word is she knocked over some scaffolding, this time at the entrance hall."

"Crab apples, Dash. Again?"

Rainbow Dash ignored her, as she was far too engrossed in savoring every last drop of her cider.

"You know Twalight ain't gonna be happy about that."

Tipping her head back, Rainbow Dash downed the last of the mug, and then slammed it onto the cart with a satisfied sigh. "It's okay, I can die in peace now."

"Ah'll be sure to send your regards to your family in Cloudsdale," Applejack deadpanned.

Rainbow Dash wiped her mouth with a hoof, and then leaned against the counter's edge. "You should have told me you were coming here to sell some cider."

"Ah wanted to make sure Ah actually had some cider to sell by the time Ah got here," Applejack replied, taking Rainbow Dash's mug away and storing it below the counter.

"How'd you get this thing over the ravine anyway?"

"They got a temporary bridge just down the way. Figure it'll be another few months before they finish the one for the main path. When that happens it'll be much easier to do business."

"I bet business is booming."

Applejack smiled. "Sure is. Helps being the nearest source of fruit, Ah suppose."

"And the best!" a random batpony shouted from the crowd. "Three cheers for Miss Applejack and her delicious wares!"

Applejack's cheeks reddened as she pulled her hat forward, and the whole hall was filled with three short bursts of whooping cries.

The crowd then began to thin as the bat ponies went about their day, depositing their mugs in piles near the cart as they offered their thanks again. Some of them yawned before retreating back into the castle, muttering to each other how it had been worth it to wake up in the middle of the day.

Rainbow Dash took the whole scene with a smug smile, and turned to Applejack. "They aren't such a bad bunch once you get to know them."

"Ah'll say," Applejack replied while busily storing the mugs away. "Big Mac is already working another field for planting. We figure it's about time we went and brought the reserved plots into action. Always knew we'd use 'em someday when Ponyville got bigger, but hadn't figured it'd be for a whole castle worth of ponies." Applejack wiped her brow and stepped out from behind her cart. "Ah was even thinking of hiring some more help for the farm with the castle growing like it is."

"I know what you mean," Rainbow Dash replied. "I've been busting my flank off from doing double cloud duty between Ponyville and here. The batpony weather team is coming along, but they aren't there yet." Rainbow Dash looked out into the garden, and then turned her eyes upwards to leer at the mist. "Gonna have to have a word with my _team_ about getting this cleared up."

"Aw, it ain't so bad," Applejack said. "Looks much better than when y'all started."

"Doesn't mean they get to slack off," Rainbow Dash replied with a snort. "If they're gonna to live in the Everfree then they're gonna have to learn to be on top of it. If you let this kind of weather slip by it'll just pile up and get worse. And as the training captain for castle's weather team, I'm not letting them get away with shoddy work."

Applejack smirked. "We'll let 'em finish their cider first and then you can get to busting some clouds."

"Ugh, fine," Rainbow Dash said.

The two of them shared some moments of silence by the cart, taking in the scene of pleased bat ponies sitting in the overgrown garden, or turning their heads to admire the ancient stonework around them, all while the muffled sounds of construction rang in the distance.

"So… Got anymore cider?" Rainbow Dash soon asked, and Applejack to rolled her eyes.

"Hey, Rainbow Dash!" a voice called out, and Rainbow Dash turned her head towards a familiar pair of mares.

"Hey, Cloud Shadow, Willow Shade," Rainbow Dash replied, waving a hoof towards them. The two mares trotted up, each of them carrying a mug of cider, something Rainbow Dash couldn't help but see.

When Rainbow Dash had first met the two mares, it had been under hostile circumstances, and they had been constantly at each other's throats. But Rainbow Dash had soon grown accustomed to their presence, and even looked forward to hanging out with them the more they spent time together in the recent peace since Night Walker's defeat. It also helped that they were among the best fliers among the bat ponies, garnering Rainbow Dash's respect. And now to her relief, the two were finally styling themselves in different ways, making it easier for Rainbow Dash to tell the two apart.

"How's it going?" Willow Shade asked. While the back of her mane had been cut short, she still grew out the front, and could now hide a portion of her face beneath her silver bangs. "I thought you weren't due back for a few days."

Cloud Shadow giggled, her expansive silver ponytail shaking from her movements. "She probably missed us. Can't say I blame her. After all, we're the only competition she's got around here."

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, but smiled. "Please, you two may be good, but you aren't that good. Maybe if you two joined the weather team you'd finally be able to catch up to my awesome self."

"Sorry, but you aren't getting us on the team that easy," Cloud Shadow replied. She then took a sip from her mug.

Rainbow Dash eyed the motion enviously.

"Come on," Rainbow Dash continued. "You two would be great at it. The best batpony I got is only half as good as you. Do you know how fast we could clear this place with you two?"

"And make your life easier?" Willow Shade asked. "I think not." She too took a sip from her mug, although with a longer duration than before.

Rainbow Dash's mouth suddenly felt dry, and she swallowed.

"Besides," Cloud Shadow said after smacking her lips. "Cloud busting just isn't in us. No matter what I do the stuff just don't cooperate with me."

"That's because you aren't trying," Rainbow Dash teased.

"You know, that might be it," Cloud Shadow replied with feigned surprise, and then took another long sip from her mug.

Rainbow Dash began tapping her hoof anxiously.

"Of course, maybe if we had a good teacher," Willow Shade added. "Somepony who knew what they were doing."

"Hey, I totally know what I'm doing!" Rainbow Dash replied, and she flicked her tail as she watched Willow Shade shrug her shoulders before taking another sip.

"You do? That's a relief," Cloud Shadow said. "I better tell Feather Fall and the others then so they stop crashing into each other during practice." As she brought the mug to her lips again, she let out a soft 'mmmm', causing Rainbow Dash's feathers to quiver.

"Will you just drink it already!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, and the two mares burst into giggles before quickly downing the last of their mug's contents.

Willow Shade wiped her mouth while grinning "Oh come on, it's not every day we get to tease you like this. We gotta get our victories where we can."

Rainbow Dash chuckled, all signs of her annoyance gone in a flash. "I guess so, especially since I beat you four to nothing in hoof ball."

"Won't be so easy next time," Cloud Shadow said. She then set her mug next to the pile Applejack had made. "Thanks so much for bringing us some cider, Applejack."

"Aw shucks, Ah'm glad to anytime."

"Yeah," Willow Shade added after setting hers down as well. "The second mug always tastes better than the first."

" _You got two!_ " Rainbow Dash cried, and the two batpony mares sped off with mocking laughter.

While Rainbow Dash was fuming and stamping her hooves on the ground, Applejack looked on in confusion. "You sure y'all get along?"

Rainbow Dash stopped her fussing and looked to Applejack with a raised eyebrow. "Huh? Yeah, of course."

"Uh huh," Applejack replied as she returned to stocking her mugs. "Guess Ah just don't get y'all's relationship. Funny way to treat friends, Ah think."

"Pssh, it's just some friendly competition." In moments Rainbow Dash appeared calm, and she now stretched her wings casually like nothing had happened. "They're alright, I guess. They just know how to ruffle my feathers. Fortunately for me, I know how to pay them back." Rainbow Dash then gave a dark chuckle.

Applejack had seen that look a hundred times, and shook her head as she busied herself. "Do Ah even want to know what kind of prank you're about to pull?"

"You already do," Rainbow Dash replied with a mischievous grin, and she then hovered off while rubbing her hooves together.

* * *

After an hour's work of carefully carrying her poisonous payload, Rainbow Dash set the trap in motion, and she snickered evilly to herself. Laying atop Willow Shade and Cloud Shadow's beds were two bouquets of flowers, both of which had 'xoxo' marked on the wrapping. Rainbow Dash marveled at her work, figuring that if she hadn't found the notion so boring she'd actually make a fine florist. Even if most of the stems were broken and the petals missing, the most important piece of the bouquets remained intact. Rainbow Dash knew Twilight gave safety lectures about the Everfree Forest, but she figured Willow Shade and Cloud Shadow probably wouldn't have paid close enough attention to know the difference a blue rose and poison joke.

With the dangerous blue flower as the centerpiece of the bouquets, Rainbow Dash was already imagining what horrendous but hilarious fate would befall the two mares when they came into contact with it.

Rainbow Dash snickered, but then paused to look across the room. The bat ponies' housing hadn't been completed, so for the time being multiple ponies would share a room within the castle, turning the spacious room into rows of bunk beds. At the other end of the room, one batpony stallion laid in his bed, and meekly looked at Rainbow Dash's hoof work.

Rainbow Dash brought a hoof to her mouth and whispered, "Shhhh." Then, for extra measure, she pounded her hooves together and pointed at him. The stallion quickly nodded, and returned his attention to his book, warily glancing from the corner of his eye now and then.

"Happy Cider Day," Rainbow Dash whispered, and then flew out from the room.

Her devious snickering quickly vanished as she ran into Mist Hoof.

"Rainbow Dash? What brings you here?" he asked. "I thought you'd be back tomorrow for the training."

"Mist Hoof!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. "H-Hey! I was just came by to uh… Get some cider!"

Mist Hoof peered over her shoulder and to the bedroom door. "I don't think you're going to find it in there."

"Oh, no, I already got some. I was just looking for, eh… Cloud Shadow and Willow Shade! Yeah, that's it!" Rainbow Dash landed and then began to walk away. "But they weren't in their beds, so I guess I better go and look for them."

"I'll join you," Mist Hoof replied, and he trotted to her side.

Rainbow Dash's hoofsteps had become stiff, but she otherwise sighed in relief that Mist Hoof hadn't investigated further. "So, how're things going?"

"Just fine, thanks," Mist Hoof answered. "The construction is going smooth. Once we get everypony here into their own quarters, we can start taking a look at bringing more from Dusktown."

"Yeah? That's cool. Glad to hear you all are finally getting out of there."

"Well, not everypony is," Mist Hoof replied. "There's actually a good amount that want to stay there."

"What? Why?" Rainbow Dash asked, and she looked at Mist Hoof with a perplexed expression.

"It's their home."

"Yeah, and their prison. Come on, you guys have flight limits. Actual _flight limits_. What kind of pony wants to deal with that?"

"I know one," Mist Hoof said quietly. "Despite the laws, Dusktown is our home, and we put a lot of care into it. It's not something everypony is capable of giving up."

"Seems like a pretty easy decision to me."

"I bet most decisions are for you."

"Heh, yeah."

The two of them walked in silence for a time when Mist Hoof suddenly smiled. "Here, follow me."

With a curious look, Rainbow Dash followed Mist Hoof down a side passage. The corridor twisted and turned, growing darker as they headed deeper into the castle. The sounds of construction echoed eerily in the distance, rising and falling as they passed numerous sections.

Eventually, though, a light appeared ahead, and Rainbow Dash opened her mouth in awe. In the middle of the corridor a team bat ponies were hard at work retiling the ceiling of the hallway, removing the old stones and plastering new ones in their place. Looking closer at how the new material shined and sparkled, Rainbow Dash stepped forward in awe.

"Is that what I think it is?"

"Yup," Mist Hoof replied, looking at the work with pride. "Stone cut from the Unicorn Range, the same kind we use in Dusktown."

"Cool," Rainbow Dash replied, still moving closer for a better look. The polished surface glimmered like starlight, shining even when there was no light present. For a moment Rainbow Dash imagined what the castle would like when it was finished, and she smiled at the thought of feeling like she was walking beneath the night sky.

"Okay, that's pretty awesome."

"I have no intention of going back," Mist Hoof said. "But I can't deny that there is some good in Dusktown." Turning around, he and Rainbow Dash made their way back to the main corridor.

"Still," Rainbow Dash said. "I don't think I could give up flying for something pretty."

"Actually, with the Princess' help, the town's restrictions have been removed."

Rainbow Dash snorted. "About time Twilight got those old geezers to back down."

Mist Hoof chuckled. "I can see bureaucracy doesn't suit you. To be honest, I'm not a fan of it myself."

Rainbow Dash flicked her tail. "I just don't get why those old geezers haven't been thrown in jail like the rest of them."

"Not every hunter participated in Twilight's capture," Mist Hoof said. "They've lost a lot of leeway in matters, but the one's who had some sense to them are still allowed their positions in court."

"Well, if you ask me they all deserved a good kick to the flank."

Mist Hoof chuckled again. "You know, I'm disappointed that I never got a chance to see you in action."

Rainbow Dash smirked. "If you want, we can have a go sometime. Twilight's been telling me how much you all used to practice fighting. I think it's something that I could get into. I am a black belt, you know."

"Only if I'm able to have a drink before hand."

"No way, that's cheating," Rainbow Dash replied. "I've seen first hoof how you guys get when you got some blood."

"Aside from sparring, let's hope it's the last," Mist Hoof said.

"Yeah, I guess so."

When they returned to the mail hall, Mist Hoof and Rainbow Dash looked to one another before they parted ways.

"I'll let Willow Shade and Cloud Shadow know you were looking for them," Mist Hoof said.

"No worries. I'm sure I'll find them." Rainbow Dash then snickered to herself. "I bet it'll be real easy to figure out where they are."

Mist Hoof raised an eyebrow, but said nothing more of the matter, and turned around. "Mares will be mares," he said.

Rainbow Dash replied with another snicker, and then went on her way as well.

As she casually made her way out of the castle, Rainbow Dash looked around in admiration of the work that had been done so far. The castle was looking better every day. The rubble had been cleared, the moss scrubbed away, and the cobwebs swept. She figured that it wouldn't be much longer before actual furniture would be brought in, and she imagined Rarity having a field day deciding the decor of the castle. The only reason she hadn't been spending every waking moment at the castle to plan her changes was because of the construction barring most of the wings, areas that Rainbow Dash would sheepishly slink away from whenever the construction ponies gave her a stern glance at her approach.

Soon enough she found her way out of the castle, and she flew high above it to look at it all. From here she could see the laborious re-roofing process, and she whistled at how far it had come. Turning her gaze to the edges of the castle, she saw the foundations for the houses that would become the small town that would encircle the castle. While the massive structure could certainly hold a large amount of ponies, it had been decided to build small, adjacent buildings so as to provide more private housing as well as businesses. Peering through the mist, Rainbow Dash could see a thin perimeter of guard ponies—both batpony and non-batpony alike—providing protection from the Everfree.

While most of the creatures of the Everfree had quickly learned to leave the site alone, there was still the rogue manticore or pack of timberwolves that would test the borders. Sometimes the invaders would have the luck of being soothed by Fluttershy who was called in on such occasions, other times they weren't as lucky as they learned first hand just how dangerous a group of vamponies could be.

Rainbow Dash laughed to herself at the idea. Vamponies. To think that such a filly's tale actually came to life. While it had caused some of the most distraught and stressful months of Rainbow Dash's life as she searched all of Equestria for Twilight, the idea of vamponies had settled into a warm place for Rainbow Dash, and now she even looked forward to their company. The ponies in Ponyville were awesome by all accounts, but the wild and sometimes dangerous nature of vamponies was simply too exciting for her to ignore.

"Speaking of dangerous," Rainbow Dash said aloud, and she turned her head west. "I think it's time for some practice at Ghastly Gorge."

* * *

"Wooohoooo!" Rainbow Dash screamed.

Pulling up from her nose dive, Rainbow Dash grinned at the start of the obstacle course. The canyon walls blurred past her as she snaked through, hugging the walls as closely as she could with her turns. Her wing beats echoed about her as the air vibrated in her passing, the only source of noise in this section of the gorge. At some point the hissing of quarry eels would pierce the silence, but that was still some ways ahead, and she rolled her shoulders as she prepared herself for the course.

She rounded another bend, and she smirked at the sight of the razor sharp barbed plants. Tucking her wings, she dove forward while rolling, narrowly passing through a gap in the bushes. The thorns were all about her, and with unblinking eyes and adrenaline filled movements, Rainbow Dash navigated her way through the precarious environment. She ducked beneath the thorns, kicked off the their thick stems, and squeezed through holes like an acrobat. Within moments she cleared the plants, and she took a deep breath.

"Ahhh," she sighed, feeling the stiffness in her limbs fade away. "Brambles, check. Windy cave?" She flew through another windy section of the gorge, and then spotted the dark hole up ahead that moaned menacingly. "Check."

The gorge narrowed as she approached the hole, and the wind picked up in intensity due to the cave funneling all the air towards her. Rainbow Dash's momentum slowed, but her wing beats only grew in strength, and she slowly closed the distance between the cave and herself.

It was while she grunted in effort that she caught notice of a shadow passing over her, and she looked up in surprise. "Wha-"

Something rocketed past her, nearly knocking her off course entirely, and Rainbow Dash stared in disbelief as whatever it was sailed into the cave. She stared open mouthed for some moments before recollecting herself, and while gnashing her teeth, Rainbow Dash covered the remaining distance and entered the cave.

 _What the hay was that? It just soared through like it was nothing._

Rainbow Dash flew through the cave, avoiding stalactites with the faintest amount of light, but mostly because of her memory of the place. Whatever it was that had passed her could be heard ahead, flapping with strong wing beats, and it navigated the cave as easily as Rainbow Dash did. She'd only be able to catch a glimpse of its form now and then in the darkness, and she narrowed her eyes in annoyance.

 _I don't know who you are, but if you think you can show me up at my course, you got another thing coming._

The two of them winded their way through the dim cave, using only the brief cracks of light that shone through the rock above as their source of illumination. Rainbow Dash tried to close the gap between her and her unexpected guest, but whenever she saw the flash of red from its hide, it'd always be just ahead of her.

Then, a bright light appeared ahead, and Rainbow Dash broke free from the cave. Blinking away the spots in her vision, Rainbow Dash looked ahead and saw her competitor.

He was a pegasus, as large as Big Mac and just as red. His lengthy, auburn colored mane billowed behind him, and his expansive wings propelled him forward with massive speed. He slowed for a moment, taking the time to glance back at Rainbow Dash, and gave her an arrogant smile.

He was mocking her, and it was achieving the desired effect.

Rainbow Dash's face tightened, and she put on a burst of speed to catch up with the large stallion. He kept his smug expression, and turned his attention forward again, matching Rainbow Dash's acceleration.

The two of them flew through the gorge at breakneck speeds, and the gap between them would lessen as Rainbow Dash's lithe form gave her an advantage on rocky twists and turns. But the stallion would gain distance again along the straightways, pumping his much larger wings with powerful strokes.

Rainbow Dash's mood was growing hotter by the moment, and she growled in her efforts. _I'm going to wipe that smug grin right off your face the moment I catch up to you, buster._

They continued on through the gorge, closing and furthering the distance between them over and over. But when the faint sound of hissing could be heard between the thwomps of their wing beats, Rainbow Dash gave a hopeful grin. _Let's see you get past this._

Up ahead was a narrow section of the gorge, and it was covered in holes that were larger than any pony. The red scales of the eels could be seen glinting in the sunlight as they poked their tongues out, testing the air for any disturbances. And as Rainbow Dash and the stallion came closer, the quarry eels stirred in their holes, and prepared themselves for a chance at a meal.

"I'd be careful if I were you," Rainbow Dash called out, smiling expectantly for the stallion to turn tail at the sight of the eels. However, he merely glanced back at her with his smug grin, and then looked forward again with no signs of stopping.

Rainbow Dash blinked in surprise, but then snorted in irritation as she pursued him.

The moment the stallion entered the nest, the eels launched out from their holes with gaping maws. With surprising agility, the stallion avoided the first eel, using his powerful wings to launch himself above its attack. The eel slammed into the opposite wall, cracking the stone, and soon, more joined it as the stallion weaved his way through.

Rainbow Dash couldn't believe what she saw. The stallion was handling the quarry eels with perfect timing and skillful dodges, and at one point even landed on one of their heads and bucked its skull, launching himself forward with his muscular legs. Rainbow Dash was in awe at the sight, but as she too approached the eels, she pulled her eyes away from the stallions movements and onto the dangerous eels.

While not as direct as the stallion, Rainbow Dash weaved through and around the eels, narrowly avoiding their bites by inches at times, and more often than not, because she chose to risk such proximity. She found it all too easy to tempt the eels towards her, making silly faces at them only to expertly dodge them at the last possible second, grinning at herself in making them cause the largest cracks in the stone from this misses.

She performed loop de loops, barrel rolls, and even flew upside for some moments, all because she could fly through the quarry nest in entertaining ways, and she did so with glee.

Soon enough she was through, and she held her hooves at her sides as she laughed. The quarry eels shook their heads as they slithered back into their holes, hissing menacingly at once again missing their blue tormenter. Rainbow Dash wiped a tear from her eye, feeling her giggles come down, but then quickly became silent as she remembered her guest.

The stallion was hovering a short distance away, and was smiling from her antics. The two of them kept eye contact for some seconds, but it broke as the stallion turned her gaze at the end of the gorge. They were at the last stretch, and the stallion kicked forward to finish the race.

Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes, and with a raspy voice exclaimed, "Nuh uh."

With a kick of her hooves, Rainbow Dash flew after him, and the race was back on.

They'd reach the end of the gorge in no time, and despite Rainbow Dash's efforts, she couldn't close the distance between them. In less than a minute, she'd have been shown up on her own course, and the idea stirred a fire in her.

 _Let's see you beat this!_

With a cool exhale, Rainbow Dash extended her hooves forward as far as she could, and beat her wings faster. The air around her began to hum as she stretched her body further, flapping her wings faster and faster with each stroke, and finally, she began to close the distance between herself and the stallion. A cone started to form at the front of her hooves, and a rainbow started to trail behind body. The gorge was filled with a growing whistling noise as speed and energy combined, and the stallion took notice of it. Looking over his shoulder, a surprised expression crossed his face, and Rainbow Dash returned it with a wild grin.

Rainbow Dash's cheeks were pulled back as she built up speed, and the cone around her body became narrower and narrower. There was a tension all about her as she neared the peak of her speed, and with a surge of excitement, Rainbow Dash rocketed past the stallion, and pushed herself over the final limit.

The air fluctuated as the space around her exploded with a thunderous boom, and a wave of colors were sent in all direction. The sonic rainboom echoed for miles around, sending its colorful display cascading over the gorge walls and high into the sky. And the remaining space within the gorge was filled with a rainbow trailing object that was a blur to any who saw. With ludicrous speeds she reached the end of Ghastly Gorge and pulled up, soaring high into the sky like a rainbow-colored streamer. She leaned backwards as she arced her ascent, pulling into a loop so that she could do a nose dive back towards the ground.

She spent the brief moment when the world looked to be above her head grinning from ear to ear, all while enjoying the immense satisfaction of seeing the stallion far below her gawk upwards in disbelief.

She then came spiraling down, giggling to herself at her victory and the rush of exhilaration that came with performing a sonic rainboom. _That 'oughta show him what's what._ Extending her wings outwards, Rainbow Dash slowed her descent, and the trailing rainbow colors faded as she approached the ground. With gust of wind that caused the nearby plants to shake in their roots, Rainbow Dash landed at the top of Ghastly Gorge, having once again reached the end first.

She exhaled heavily as she giggled to herself, and then turned to look at the stallion as he joined her. "So… What'd you… think?" Rainbow Dash asked between heavy breaths.

The stallion panted for a moment, but then let out a hearty chuckle. "Thy flying feats are commendable. Truly, thou art a pegasus with little equal."

"Heh, yeah, I guess I am," Rainbow Dash replied. She sat on her flank as her breath came back to her. "You aren't so bad yourself. Have to say, I've never seen a guy as big as you move so fast."

"I thank thee for thy praise," he replied. "It is not often that I chance upon such an enjoyable race. Thou hast my thanks for accepting my challenge."

Rainbow Dash laughed. "No problem. It's not everyday that somepony can get the drop on me." She laughed again, and then let out a happy sigh. The high she felt from her exertion, however, dulled as a thought crossed her mind.

"Is there a reason why you're talking like that?"

"Whatever dost thou mean?"

"I mean that," Rainbow Dash said with a wave of her hoof. "All this thee, thou, and stuff. You sound like Princess Luna before she figured out how to talk normally."

"Ah, you mean my dialect," the stallion said. "I have yet to learn the ways of the land today. It has been… an interesting endeavour."

"You're weird," Rainbow Dash said, but with a smile.

"Thou could say that."

Having finally caught her breath, Rainbow Dash stretched her wings, enjoying the sensations flowing through her body after such an exercise. But as she took the time to think and feel, another thought crossed her mind, and it caused her wings to fall as she slowly looked to the stallion with a skeptical expression.

"Where uh… Where did you say you were from?"

"I did not. But if thou wishes to know, I hail from the east."

"Oh, okay…"

The two of them stared at one another for some moments, and it was then that an unsettling feeling came over Rainbow Dash. Ever since she had beaten the stallion in the race, she had failed to notice his watchful gaze over her, almost predatory in nature, and at how close he had gotten to her.

"Thou art a skilled flyer," he said, only a few feet away. "Such a performance mustn't go unrewarded."

"Yeah, I am pretty awesome," Rainbow Dash said slowly as she stood herself up.

"Awesome," he said, sounding the word. "Yes, thou art, as you say, awesome. And such an awesome pony deserves an equally awesome gift."

"Uh, thanks, but no thanks," Rainbow Dash said, taking a step away from him. "The race was good enough."

Alarms were starting to sound off in Rainbow Dash's head, and the unease she felt was growing by the second as the stallion stepped closer to her.

"Please, I insist. But first, I must know the identity of my victorious opponent. Pray tell, what is thy name?"

"Rainbow Dash," she replied while frowning. "You?"

"Take heed, for thou gazes upon the master of the sky," he replied, bowing low as he extended his wings. "I am Gale, lord of all those with wings."

"Uh huh," Rainbow Dash replied, taking another step backwards. "Well, it's been nice talking to you, Gale, but I've got somewhere to be."

"Thou may go wherever thou wish, but first, I must impart thee with my gift," he said, standing himself up straight. His large form stood over Rainbow Dash, and she started to think that maybe he was actually even bigger than Big Mac.

"I'm good, really," Rainbow Dash replied, her voice a note quieter than before.

Gale's face became hard, and he stepped forward. "Thou art an impatient mare. One should show more respect for The Beast."

"The Beast?" Rainbow Dash replied, and she furrowed her brow in confusion. But then it all began to click in her mind. Previous conversations and thoughts began to connect to one another, and a sense of dread filled Rainbow Dash. The Beast, one of the Four Shepherds. She recalled Princess Celestia mentioning him in passing months ago, when Twilight was recovering in the library. Rainbow Dash knew the princesses were preparing everypony for the next shepherd, and now, she found herself staring at him.

Gale stepped closer, and the hair on Rainbow Dash's neck stood up.

"Gotta go!" she cried, and she leapt upwards and flew away. With a frantic gaze, Rainbow Dash flew towards Ponyville. _Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap, oh crap! I gotta tell Twilight! I got to warn everypony!_

Rainbow Dash didn't dare look back. She couldn't waste a single moment. She had seen first hoof how fast Gale was, and she focused every inch of her body on flying as fast as she could. Her limbs ached from performing the sonic rainboom, and her chest felt empty from exerting the pegasus magic needed to perform the maneuver, but she nonetheless pushed herself to the limit, not letting up for an instant.

She suddenly lurched forward as a gust of hot air swept up from behind her, and Rainbow Dash yelped in surprise at the increase in temperature. There was a deafening sound behind her, rhythmically causing her body to hum from the vibrations as she felt the air around her shift. The awful sound of trees breaking at their trunks filled the air, and another wave of heat washed over her. Rainbow Dash gulped as her body began to shake, and she slowly looked behind her, and her heart fell at what she saw.

Her vision was filled with the sight of a gargantuan red dragon pursuing her. Its massive wings heaved its body through the air, and its dangling claws dragged across the forest, shattering trees in its wake. Rainbow Dash felt the strength in her limbs fade upon gazing at the sheer size of the monster, something she had never experienced before; even the dragon that had visited Ponyville was by no account small, but stretched to its full length would have brought it only to the chest of the dragon currently chasing her.

" **Is thy courage so fallible?** " the dragon spoke, causing the air and Rainbow Dash's whole body to rumble from his deep voice.

Rainbow Dash gulped as she exclaimed in a tiny voice, "G-Gale?"

The dragon narrowed its eyes it drew closer, and it let out an awful hiss that would have put the quarry eels to shame. **"I see now that thy brave spirit flees outside of the race. Thy feeble shaking is shameful.** "

Rainbow Dash hadn't even realized she had been shaking until Gale had pointed it out.

"But I am honor bound to still impart thee with my gift, and so I shall, and you will succumb to my rule." Gale opened his maw, and a burning light could be seen building in his throat.

Every instinct in Rainbow Dash's body told her to run, and she sped forward with all her strength. She only managed to cover a good forty-feet before a shadow came from her left, and Rainbow Dash found herself being hit with the force of a brick wall. Her body was sent careening into the forest below, and after snapping through multiple branches, she collided with the ground.

Rainbow Dash's mind was reeling from the impact, and she blinked profusely as she tried to refocus her hazy vision. Pain shot through her body, and a wave of dizziness came over her. This was worse than any other crash landing she had experienced. It was immediately apparent that she had broken bones, causing nearly paralyzing aches to course throughout her chest. Something wet fell down her cheeks, and she realized she was crying.

With a cry of agony, Rainbow Dash propped herself onto her front hooves. She immediately became aware of a white hot pain in her shoulders, causing spots to appear in her vision. With great difficulty and the gnashing of her teeth, she looked over her shoulder, and she paled from the state of her wings. They had been snapped from the blow, and hung limply at her sides.

Rainbow Dash's jaw dropped as tears began to fall, but she couldn't mutter a word aside from a disbelieving whimper.

Then, the ground shook and trees were knocked aside, and Rainbow Dash fearfully turned her head. Gale had landed, and he towered over her in his draconic form, his knees reaching higher than the canopy of the forest as he sat on his haunches. He flexed his clawed hand as he looked over her injuries. **"Thou art such a frail thing. One sweep of my hand has reduced thy body to such a broken state."**

Rainbow Dash whispered for help, hoping that something, anything would hear her.

Gale regarded her for some moments, and then snorted, sending a plume of smoke skyward from his nostrils. " **Rainbow Dash, for proving thyself in flight, thou shalt become my kin, and when thou hast grown into thy fate, thou shalt suffer to follow me to the ends of the world."** Gale opened his mouth to reveal a glowing light, and Rainbow Dash felt the tears on her cheek evaporate from the wave of heat that emanated from him. " **Burn."**

With a deafening roar Gale unleashed his inferno, and Rainbow Dash screamed as the fire consumed her body and soul.


	3. Chapter 2

_In her dream, everything was fire and pain, unlike anything she had ever known before. With pin pricked eyes, she looked on in horror as her blue coat was burned away. The flames leapt up her body and engulfed her wings, tearing her blackened feathers away to be sent spiraling skyward by the heat. Under her skin, her muscles seared from within as she spasmed involuntarily. Somewhere in the back of her mind, where her fear and self preservation were beaten and battered, but barely present through her torturous existence, she tried to place her legs beneath herself. She tried to stand and run from the fire, but the convulsions that wracked her body made it impossible to flee._

 _It burns!_

 _She screamed, again and again she screamed as the fire consumed her. But no matter how loud her howls were, she couldn't hear her voice over the roaring fire. The flames crept into her mouth, turning her teeth red-hot until they eventually melted. Even as the flames began to crawl down her throat and sear her insides, she continued to scream._

 _It's too hot! It's too hot! Get me out of here!_

 _The fire engulfed her, consumed her, robbing her of what little mind and reason she had left as it burned her body away._

 _Make it stop!_

 _Even as her flesh blackened and her nerves were seared away, the pain never stopped and never lessened. The agony only rose alongside the fire as it continued to burn inside her, reaching depths of her being that she never even knew existed._

 _Celestia! Make it stop!_

 _Breaking past her physical form, the fire entered her inner world. Reaching this place, the flames burned with greater intensity as if they were hungry, and they erupted towards the shimmering sphere at the center of Rainbow Dash's core._

 _Somebody! Anybody! Please, make it stop!_

 _The flames licked the edges of her soul, blackening its white fibers with their unnatural flame. The sensation of her soul being singed summoned forth untold strength from within her, and she used it to scream louder than ever before, finally allowing her voice to rise above the cacophony of the fire, the first of many ear-shattering cries to come._

 _It burns! Make it stop! Please! Make it-_

 _The flames did not stop, but darkness quickly overtook the dream. Even as her vision faded into nothingness, she still felt the heat of the fire. She could still feel herself burning._

* * *

In the stillness, a light appeared, shining through a small gap that led to a hidden space. Beneath a pile of blackened and toppled trees, a burrow had formed. The floor of this makeshift den was covered in soot, a colorless space that held no signs of life after the devastating fire. But as the sun rose higher into the sky, and a beam of light stretched across this burrow through the small opening, it touched upon something colorful, the one thing that hadn't been reduced to an unsightly pile of gray ash.

As her blue body stirred from the warmth of the light, and her polychromatic hair shimmered in its glow, Rainbow Dash groggily opened her eyes. She simply lay there at first, slowly registering where she was. She squinted at the light now shining in her eyes, and she moaned at the ache that permeated her entire body. It was because of that moan that she became aware of just how unbelievably parched her throat was. Her mouth and throat felt so dry that it was painful to even make a sound.

Still sluggish from waking up in this strange place, and feeling as if her entire body had been put through the work out of her life twice in a row, Rainbow Dash tried to lift herself up. But she quickly found that she was pinned beneath a great weight. And so she lay still again, working her tired mind so as to figure out why she was here.

Rainbow Dash dredged up her foggy memories, and after spending some time recalling the last few days, she suddenly snapped her eyes open in recollection.

A race in the canyon. Gale, the red pegasus. The gargantuan dragon he had become, and the fire that-

Rainbow Dash cried out in fear as she shielded herself from the imagined fire. The wood above her shifted from her sudden motion, causing one of the blackened branches above her to finally snap and fall. It landed in front of her, kicking up a pile of soot that she accidentally inhaled, sending her into a coughing fit.

 _Need to… Get outta' here._

Squeezing her eyes shut while she coughed, she struggled to wiggle her way out from underneath the debris. The wood above her groaned from her movements, but aside from a few more pieces that fell, the impromptu shelter otherwise remained intact.

During her crawling, her tongue passed over her teeth, and she paused to explore a strange feeling. Examining her teeth more closely with her tongue, she whimpered at discovering how finely tipped some of the points had become.

 _Great, being stuck under here wasn't enough, but my teeth are broken, too?_ But after a moment's consideration, she figured broken teeth were the least of her worries. She'd ask Twilight for a spell for it later—provided that a tooth-fixing spell even existed in the first place—and instead focus on her immediate concern.

Crawling her way out from beneath the pile of burned trees, Rainbow Dash heaved herself forward, and with a final grunt, she pushed her way through the small, shining opening.

Rainbow Dash's head popped out, and she took in a lungful of fresh air. She could still smell the scent of the burned forest, but it was much cleaner than the burrow she had been trapped in. After hauling herself the rest of the way out, Rainbow Dash collapsed to the ground, sending a small cloud of ash into the air. She was covered in the stuff, each cough reminded her of how sore her body was, and she couldn't stop licking the roof of her mouth in her desire for water. But she was alive. Somehow, she was alive.

However, as she looked around, she saw that nothing else was.

The morning sun was well above the horizon, and its light revealed a swath of destroyed forest around Rainbow Dash. The once mighty and green trees of the Everfree were reduced to nothing but charred husks, all of them still smoldering, most of them already fallen, their charred remains releasing tufts of cinders in the cold morning air. Wisps of smoke from the burned forest floor trailed upwards, rising from piles of blackened objects that Rainbow Dash didn't have the heart to identify.

Her chest tightened at the grisly sight of the bodies that were once the inhabitants of the forest, and she lurched forward, throwing up what little was in her stomach. Her stomach bile tasted more acidic and awful than usual, but she couldn't help but remorsely appreciate that something had wetted her throat.

After emptying her stomach, Rainbow Dash fell onto her haunches and squeezed her now tearful eyes shut.

 _Why did any of this happen? Why am I… How am I here?_

She inhaled sharply, and she began to shudder. Wrapping her hooves and wings around herself, she formed a ball of safety, desperate to shield herself from the ruin that surrounded her. But before she could begin to cry, she paused in confusion at the sensation of something poking her chest, and the odd feelings in her wings. Opening her eyes, she looked down at her wings still wrapped around her, and she shrieked at what she saw.

What were once her familiar and feathered appendages, were now a pair of unsightly blue scaled limbs. Her feathers had been replaced with a tough leather similar in appearance to that of a bat, filling the space between long thin digits that she could now flex. Her wing forearms that had been cloaked in fur and feathers were now completely covered in armored scales. And at the apex of each wing was a single ivory claw, the very thing that had been poking her.

She quickly unwrapped the wings from herself like they were the hands of a giant creature holding her from behind.

With panicked breaths, Rainbow Dash frantically crawled away, looking over her shoulder at the attached monstrosities as if they would grab her at any moment. But, eventually, she stopped, and she dared to stay still for a moment so as to look at the wings more carefully. She swallowed a lump in her throat between heavy breaths.

She tentatively flexed what was now her right wing, and it responded to her will. She moved her left wing, and she stared in disbelief as it rose at her command. She then gave them a test flap, and when she did, her eyes teared up at how it felt to catch the wind with her new wings.

 _This is wrong._

Despite her control over them, she felt more powerless than she had beneath the pile of trees. Rainbow Dash began to shake her head as tears flowed down her cheeks. She extended both of her wings out, and she gasped at the stretching sensation of her leathery wing membrane.

 _This feels so wrong._

With a shaking hoof, Rainbow Dash reached out to touch the edge of her wings, still terrified of them despite the fact that they responded just as well as her feathered ones. She hesitantly rubbed her hoof over the surface of her blue scales, but then pulled her hoof back.

"No…" Rainbow Dash quietly said aloud.

While the sensation of touching her scales was unpleasant enough, it was the sensation of feeling her hoof through her scales that was the most unnerving.

 _This can't be happening. This isn't real._

Rainbow Dash found herself breathing more frantically as panic set in, and with it, she became more aware of the smell of the burned forest. A wave of dizziness came over her, and her vision faded in and out as unconsciousness threatened to take her. But from sheer denial and grit, she powered through it, and she placed her hooves beneath herself.

 _Gotta move_ , she told herself. Standing up, Rainbow Dash began to numbly walk forward, keeping her eyes locked on the path ahead and her wings fully extended so that they couldn't touch the rest of her body. _I've got to get to Ponyville. I've got to warn them about Gale. And then… And then Twilight can fix me. She'll just cast a spell and-_

Rainbow Dash stopped as an awful thought crossed her mind.

 _What if Gale reached Ponyville? What if he burned the town and..._

She couldn't finish the thought as the image of her friends writhing in flames flashed across Rainbow Dash's mind, and she closed her eyes tightly as she screamed at the ground.

 _No! They can't be! They can't be-_

"Rainbow Dash!"

Rainbow Dash's eyes snapped open as she perked her ears, and she swiveled her head towards the direction of the voice. "Girls?" Rainbow Dash softly replied.

She scanned the destroyed forest for any sign of movement, but all she saw was the mounds of the burned trees. Then, she heard her name called again.

"Rainbow Dash!"

She instinctively reached a hoof towards the voice. "H-Here… I'm here," she hoarsely replied, but far too quietly to be heard.

Rainbow Dash heard more shouts of her name. Ponies were looking for her.

Tears fell from Rainbow Dash's eyes as she walked towards the sound of the voices, slowly picking up speed and strength with each step. "Here. I'm here!" she cried.

"Rainbow Dash!"

She swallowed, pushing aside the pain in her throat for a moment so that she could call out with all her strength. "I'm here!"

Rainbow Dash heard a stallion yell, "Miss Applejack, I think I heard something over here." Seconds later, she saw a pegasus stallion flying above in the distance. After one sweeping glance he spotted Rainbow Dash, and then he turned around and began pointing his hoof towards her. "Over here! I found her! She's over here!"

Soon, Rainbow Dash could hear the sound of hooves snapping branches as they pounded against the ground, and she let out a cry at the sight of five ponies tearing out from behind one of the mounds of the burned forest. To Rainbow Dash's infinite relief, she saw each of her friends running towards her alive and well.

"G-Girls!" Rainbow Dash cried out, falling onto her knees at the sight of them.

They redoubled their speed the moment they spotted her, calling out her name as they quickly approached.

"Rainbow Dash!" Twilight shouted, having outpaced the others with ease thanks to her vampiric strength, not even pausing in the slightest as her sunhat fell from her head. "Rainbow Dash! We were so worried! We've been looking for you ever since-"

Twilight came to a skidding halt just a few feet from Rainbow Dash, and she stared slack-jawed at the scaled wings Rainbow Dash held away from her body. The rest of the girls had similar reactions as they too came to a halt, their looks of relief turning into ones of shock.

"Rainbow," Twilight whispered. "Your wings and… and your teeth."

Rainbow Dash let out choked cry as tears welled up in her eyes, but before she could utter a single word, Twilight covered the remaining distance between them and wrapped her hooves around Rainbow Dash.

"It's okay, we're here. We got you."

"Twilight… Girls," Rainbow Dash replied, immediately wrapping her hooves around Twilight's body. The rest of the girls were there in a moment, and Rainbow Dash sheltered herself in the embrace of her friends. "Gale… He… He… Is Ponyville okay? There was so much fire and… The fire was… Is everypony else okay? I… I…"

Rainbow Dash couldn't speak any further, finally succumbing to her worry and exhaustion as she collapsed in the arms of her friends, crying to herself beneath the soothing hooves and words of her five friends.

"Everypony else is okay, Sugarcube. Let's just take care of you."

"We're here, darling. We're here."

"Don't worry, Rainbow. Ponyville's safe."

"Shhh, we're right here, Dashie. We'll take care of you."

"We're here, Rainbow Dash. We got you."

Each word and touch caused Rainbow Dash to grip them all the tighter. And in the back of her mind, she made a mental effort to not let her wings touch them. She didn't want those awful things to touch anything. And it was only after her friends reassured her that everyone else was safe and that Ponyville was okay that Rainbow Dash finally let herself fall unconscious.

* * *

The sounds of a hospital machine beeping was the first thing Rainbow Dash heard, followed by the sound of her own groan as she awoke.

Immediately after she made the noise, Rainbow Dash heard a chair from across the room swivel, and the next moment she felt a hoof gently touching her arm.

"I'm here, Rainbow."

"Twilight?" Rainbow Dash replied. She opened her eyes and saw Twilight's concerned face staring at her. "Wha… What's going on?"

Twilight's look of concern deepened. "You're in the hospital, Rainbow. We took you here right after we found you."

"Oh," Rainbow Dash simply replied. "How long was I out for?"

"Most of the day. It's evening now"

"Huh," Rainbow Dash merely replied.

Waking up for the second time that day, Rainbow Dash slowly took in the sensations of lying in the hospital bed. The weight of the blankets were far comfier than the weight of the trees from this morning, and the air was nearly odorless compared to the soot-stained forest. Her body was still sore, but not as much as it had that morning. However, the longer she compared the two, the more she remembered, and she suddenly let out a gasp from the twitching of her wings tucked at her side.

Practically leaping into the position, Rainbow Dash sat upright in her bed, and began to frantically push her wings away from her with her hooves.

"Rainbow Dash, calm down!" Twilight said. She carefully wrestled with Rainbow Dash's hooves, trying to pin them down into her lap and away from her wings.

"But my wings! My-My wings!" Rainbow Dash replied, her voice cracking.

"I know, Rainbow. I know. But you need to stop," Twilight said sorrowfully.

Twilight's reply didn't ease Rainbow Dash's panic, and she only began to paw at her wings more frantically.

"Rainbow, stop trying to- Look at me! Look at me!" Twilight grabbed ahold of Rainbow Dash's head with her hooves and turned her so they were face to face. "I _know_!" Twilight exclaimed. "I know how you feel. You're different and it feels wrong and, and…" Twilight inhaled as she suppressed a sniffle. "Trust me, I know what it feels like when everything about you is messed up."

Rainbow Dash breathed heavily from her panicked state, but she pushed down her anxiety just enough to keep eye contact with Twilight.

"It's a lot to take in, Rainbow. More than what you feel like you're capable of handling right now. But you need to take it slow. Take a deep breath with me, okay?."

Rainbow Dash had brought her hooves over Twilight's, and she held onto them for dear life as she focused on Twilight's crimson eyes and listened to her voice.

"Breath with me. Take a deep breath in…" Twilight said, and Rainbow Dash found herself breathing in tune. "And out."

Rainbow Dash exhaled, and then began to sob.

"Just focus on me, okay?" Twilight said. She gently reaffirmed her hold on Rainbow Dash's head. "Breathe in… and out. Just repeat along with me. In… and out."

Rainbow Dash forced herself to focus on Twilight's voice, and as they took deep breaths in unison, the panic inside of her began to lessen with each exhale. As if some force was drawing her anxiety away, Rainbow Dash felt calmer.

Eventually, Twilight slid her hooves away. Rainbow Dash, however, refused to remove her hooves from Twilight's, and so they rested their hooves together on the bed.

"And out," Twilight said after a few more breaths. "Are you feeling more calmer, now?"

"Yeah," Rainbow Dash quietly replied.

"Is there anything I can get you?"

Rainbow Dash reluctantly pulled a hoof away and rubbed at her throat. Aside from her wings, everything about her was intact, as if the fire hadn't consumed her like in her dream. But her throat was still dry, and she winced at the memory of the flames pouring down her throat. "Water, please."

Twilight nodded, and quickly left. Rainbow Dash kept her eyes on the blanket as she heard Twilight fill a cup of water from the sink and returning as expediently as she had left.

"Here," Twilight said as she levitated the cup to Rainbow Dash's lips.

Rainbow Dash tilted her head back and sipped at the cup, greedily drinking from it as it soothed her throat.

Rainbow Dash let out a relieved gasp. "More."

After they repeated the process a few times, Rainbow Dash sighed and leaned forward. Taking a few more deep breaths, Rainbow Dash hesitantly looked at her wings again. Despite the fact that they looked like the webbed claws of a monster, they merely hung at her side. Summoning her courage once more, she tested them. They twitched in response.

Now, with her panic subsided enough, Rainbow Dash extended a hoof and tentatively felt her wings. From the smoothness of the leather-like membrane, to the scaled forearm, and to the single ivory claw each wing sported, Rainbow Dash examined every inch of her new appendages.

The scales of her new limbs reached all the way past her shoulder joints where they seemingly transitioned back to her regular coat. The scales were tough, but malleable, allowing her full freedom of movement no matter how she twisted her wings. The membrane, a lighter shade of blue in contrast to the rest of her coat, filled the gaps between the long thin fingers she could bend and flex. It was as if she had grown a pair of gargantuan minotaur hands on her shoulders and stretched them out until they were nothing but narrow bony fingers. And the single hooked claw at the apex of her wing moved as if it were a thumb, or at least, how she imagined a moving thumb would feel. Despite the fragile appearance of the wings, she felt as if she could suspend the weight of her entire body off the claws alone.

With the exception of the scales and claws, her wings strikingly resembled the wings of the bat ponies.

When she had enough she brought her hoof back, but she still kept her wings extended away from her, refusing to let them touch the rest of her body. Rainbow Dash looked at Twilight. "What happened to me?"

Twilight's face remained stoic, and she magically grabbed a nearby stool for her to sit upon. "I don't know. To be honest, I was hoping you'd be able to tell me."

"I…" Rainbow Dash replied before pausing. She swallowed as she collected her thoughts. "I… I went to the castle. AJ was selling cider. And then I went to Ghastly Gorge for some practice flying. And then… A stallion came out of nowhere. And we raced. I beat him."

Rainbow Dash's voice became quieter as she recounted the story.

"His name was Gale. He… He was one of the Shepherds. I tried to get away, but…"

Rainbow Dash then vividly remembered the sight of the massive dragon chasing after her, the pain and feeling of shock when she saw her broken wings. And then, the roaring fire that-

"Gaaah!" Rainbow Dash screamed as she wrapped her hooves around herself.

"Rainbow! You're safe," Twilight said, placing her hooves on Rainbow Dash's shoulders. "It's alright, you're safe."

Rainbow Dash shuddered beneath her hooves, sniffling as the vivid memory faded. Soon, she recollected herself, after a few shaky breaths, Rainbow Dash lifted her head. After wiping a tear from her eye she asked, "What… What happened after?"

"You should rest, you've been through-"

"Tell me," Rainbow Dash urged. Her breathing was audible, and she looked like she would break down at any moment. But she locked her eyes with Twilight's, and stared at her with a look of struggling determination. "What happened?"

Twilight bit her lip, and pulled her hoof back. "Nothing terrible, thankfully." Repositioning herself in the stool, Twilight spoke, "Everypony in Ponyville and in the Castle quickly learned about the fire in the Everfree forest. The first responders said they saw… well, a dragon flying away, but nopony mentioned a pegasus."

"It was him," Rainbow Dash quietly replied. "The dragon was Gale…"

A bewildered expression came over Twilight, and after some seconds of contemplation, she continued. "They saw _Gale_ flying east. By the time I arrived the fire had grown strong enough to threaten the entire forest, and eventually Ponyville and the Castle. So I spent the rest of the night battling the flames with the fire crews. After we finally put it out, we began our search for you."

Twilight hung her head. "I'm so sorry, Rainbow Dash, for how long it took for us to realize you were missing. It wasn't until the end after no pony was able find you that we realized something must have happened. We just assumed you were already fighting the fire." Twilight's ears drooped. "I should have realized sooner."

Rainbow Dash closed her eyes for a moment. "No pony can blame you. Was anyone else hurt?"

"Thankfully no. It took some time, but the pegasi were finally able to get enough clouds to put the fire out before it could spread to the rest of the forest." Twilight leaned back in her stool and sighed. "Sometime during the middle of the whole event, a group of guards showed up. They told us they had been chasing Gale all the way from western Equestria. They were exhausted from their nonstop flying, and so I sent a messenger in their stead to Canterlot to relay the news. They should have informed Celestia and Luna about it by now."

"They were trying to warn us about him, huh?" Rainbow Dash replied.

Twilight nodded. "Yes. It seems he's made a few attacks in Western Equestria already, but the Everfree forest fire has been the largest attack he's done so far." Twilight bit her lip as she furrowed her brow. "We weren't ready for him to show up yet. Not in the slightest."

"Are they going to catch him?"

Twilight shook her head. "I don't know. The last I heard was that he was still heading east. If I'm right, a fleet of pegasi have been deployed from Canterlot to warn the eastern cities, and if they are able to, they'll confront him. Celestia and Luna are probably with them, too. Hopefully we'll hear soon what happens."

"And… And what about me?" Rainbow Dash brought a hoof to her chest, looked at her extended wings, and then turned back to Twilight. "You can fix me, right?"

Twilight's ears fell, and she replied only after a few moments of silence. "I don't think so."

"What?" Rainbow Dash leaned towards Twilight. "But you gotta! There has to be a way!"

"Rainbow, please, I-"

"There's gotta be a way that you can-OW!" Rainbow Dash recoiled as she brought a hoof to her mouth. Scrunching up her nose, she used her tongue to feel the sudden sore spot in her mouth, and then the sharp point that had caused it.

"They aren't easy to get used to," Twilight said quietly. "Fangs, I mean."

"I don't want to get used to them!" Rainbow Dash said. She slammed her hooves onto the bed, but she was more careful now about how she gritted her teeth. "There has to be a way to fix me."

"Rainbow-"

"There has to be some spell or, or, or _something_ that can change me back! There's no way in Equestria that I'm going to just live out my life like this and-"

" _Rainbow Dash!_ " Twilight said firmly. The commanding tone of her voice caused Rainbow Dash to flinch, and she looked at Twilight angrily but quietly.

Twilight inhaled sharply as she searched for the right words, but she eventually sighed and spoke softly, "If there is a way to fix you, I don't know about it. Ruby and I examined you while you slept. We looked at every inch of your soul and-"

"My soul!?" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

"That's what I'm trying to tell you!" Twilight said with a pleading voice. She grabbed ahold of Rainbow Dash's hooves and leaned towards her. "Rainbow, it isn't just your physical appearance that's been altered. Your _soul_ has been changed, and those changes are unlike anything I or Ruby have ever seen before."

"But…" Rainbow Dash replied, desperately wracking her mind for some answer. "But you fixed the bat ponies, right? And Rarity. Isn't this the same? Can't we just use the Elements of Harmony?"

"I'm sorry, Rainbow. But this isn't the same, and there's no way to remove the Elements of Harmony from the tree right now. You know we've already tried."

Twilight's reaffixed her hold on Rainbow Dash's hooves. "Listen to me. From what Ruby and I can tell, you're stable, but changing you back is something beyond either of our capabilities. We just don't know enough to revert you back. And even if we did, we aren't sure if we'd even be able to do it. We can't even remove the vampirism in our body, and undoing-" Twilight motioned to Rainbow Dash's wings, "all of this is something entirely else. This isn't some alteration spell, this is something that has changed you at your very core."

Rainbow Dash pulled her hooves away, suddenly feeling more unsure than she already was. "You mean… The wings and fangs might not be the only changes?"

"I'm sorry, Rainbow," Twilight softly replied. "I just don't know. From what we can tell, you're still you. There's just… more to you now. And we aren't exactly sure what that means."

After staring blankly at Twilight for a few seconds, Rainbow Dash let out a soft laugh. "So… I'm different now, huh? That's all, right? These are my wings now, and I've got fangs." A smile crept on her lips as her ears drooped. "Who knows what else is going to happen. Maybe I'll even grow some pink spots."

"Rainbow…"

Rainbow Dash let out a few more laughs, but all too soon her laughter turned to sobs, and she fell back into her bed. Without care for her new fangs, Rainbow Dash gnashed her teeth. "This is me now. This is how I'm going to live the rest of my life?!"

"I'm sorry, Rainbow Dash. I really am."

Rainbow Dash placed her foreleg over her eyes to hide the tears, but they still streamed down her cheeks. She could feel her new canines pushing against her teeth and gums, and she gnashed them all the harder. Her scaly wings quivered, and she missed the sound of ruffling feathers.

"This is me, now," Rainbow Dash said venomously, but not without a note of sadness. "I'm going to be stuck like this."

"Of course Ruby and I won't stop searching for a way to undo it," Twilight said. "But we can't promise anything."

Rainbow Dash lay in her bed, trying to keep herself still so that she wouldn't lash out at anything around herself. And in time, her limbs relaxed, but her tears did not stop.

"Why did this happen?" Rainbow Dash quietly asked.

"I don't know, I wish I did."

The two of them shared the next few minutes in silence, Rainbow Dash slowly coming to terms with her new form, and Twilight lending a supporting hoof. But eventually, after having dried Rainbow Dash's tears, Twilight politely cleared her throat. "The girls are outside. They've been waiting for you to wake up ever since we brought you here."

Looking up from her lying position, Rainbow Dash gave a small smile. But that smile quickly turned into a frown. "What are they going to think when they see me like this? I mean, they already did, but-"

"Rainbow Dash," Twilight said. Standing up from her stool and magically placing it aside, Twilight gave Rainbow Dash an understanding smile. "When I first came back to Ponyville, right after I regained my memories, I was so worried about other ponies seeing me."

"Really?"

"Really," Twilight said, still smiling as she nodded. "I was terrified of what they would think about me. I was afraid that they would only see me as a monster. But the worst part was that I actually believed I _was_ a monster, and that I was too dangerous to be near anypony. I was so worried about what I might do if I had lost control that I almost didn't come back to Ponyville."

"But you did," Rainbow Dash said, though she phrased her reply more as a question rather than a statement.

"Yes, I did," Twilight said. She sighed happily. "Coming back was the best decision I could have made. I don't know what might have happened if I didn't come home to you all. Eventually, I trusted that you all would be able to see past what I had become." Twilight motioned to the door. "You're still our Rainbow Dash. Nothing is going to change that, and we're going to help you through this every step of the way, just like how all of you helped me."

Rainbow Dash let out a shuddered breath, and quickly wiped a fresh tear from her eye. After spending a few more moments to collect herself, she nodded.

Twilight nodded in reply, and then crossed the room to open the door. She poked her head out, spoke in a hushed voice, and then stepped aside to let the rest of the girls in.

"Rainbow Dash!" Pinkie Pie shouted, being the first one through the door and crossing the room so quickly that even Twilight did a double take. "How are you feeling? Are you okay? Can I get you a cupcake?"

Rainbow Dash chuckled and gently batted Pinkie Pie's intrusive face away from hers. "I'm as good as I can be. Give me some breathing space, will ya?"

"Sorry," Pinkie Pie replied before continuing to speak her next sentences with one breath. "How are your wings? Twilight told me not to ask about the wings, so she's probably glaring at me right now. So now I'm double-sorry. But how are your wings? Can you feel them? Do they feel funny now or the same?"

"Pinkie!" Rarity said, frowning at Pinkie Pie as she followed behind Fluttershy and Applejack who also made their way to the bedside. "She just woke up from her awful ordeal. We don't want to rush her through her recovery." After giving an exasperated sigh, Rarity turned to Rainbow Dash. "How are you feeling, dear?"

"Okay, I guess," Rainbow Dash replied.

"We were so worried for you, Dashie," Fluttershy said. "Is there anything we can get for you?"

"More water, please?"

Fluttershy sweetly nodded, and then left to refill Rainbow Dash's cup.

"Aren't you a sight for sore eyes," Applejack said. "You have no idea how worried we were when we heard about the fire and the dragon. Ah was… Ah was scared about what'd we find after we stopped the fire, after we realized no pony had seen ya."

Fluttershy returned with the cup of water, and gave it to Rainbow Dash who took it with an appreciative nod. Fluttershy spoke, "I'm just so glad that you're alright. I mean, you're not alright, but you're alive and-and if you had been hurt or-"

Rainbow Dash chuckled. "Relax, Flutters, I'm here." She then let out a disheartened laugh. "Just… Not like I was before."

"Regardless of how you are here," Twilight interjected. "We're just glad you _are_ here." Twilight took Rainbow Dash's hoof in hers, and then she looked to the rest of their friends. "We're going to do everything we can to help you through this, right girls?" After receiving supporting nods, Twilight turned to Rainbow Dash. "It won't be easy for you, but we're here, Rainbow. It's not going to be like what I went through. You're going to have us right by your side. You aren't alone in this."

Pinkie Pie tilted her head. "But if Ruby was with you, doesn't that mean you weren't alone either and-"

"Pinkie Pie, shush," Twilight said. "But now that you mention it, Ruby wanted to express her concerns as well. She's going to do everything she can to help you through this. We all are."

Rainbow Dash gave them a solemn smile. "Thanks, girls. I think… I think I'm gonna need it."


End file.
